I did something amazing

By Laura Yates on Sep 21, 09 08:36 PM

On Saturday the 19th of September, me and 1500 women did something amazing. We walked 10km around Birmingham City Centre at midnight in aid of Acorns children's charity.

At around 9.30pm I was mooching around the house, grumbling and thinking that the last thing I wanted to be doing was going on a 6 mile walk around town in the freezing cold. Why do I let myself be talked into these things? I suppose this is what comes from being friends with Dirt Linforth, a dedicated (to say the least) employee of the charity. "Go on, please support us. It'll be fun!" She'd enthused.

Dirt's mom arrived at mine circa 9.45, pinned my number to my back and we started to talk about how cold it was likely to be. Was I mad? This wasn't going to be fun at all, it was going to be cold and tiring. Our lift arrived at 10pm and we got to Millennium Point just before half past.

When I saw the hundreds of women, many of them in an array of fancy dress all my inhibitions and apprehensions started to subside - this was going to be an amazing experience.

We registered at the desk then Dirt found us and volunteered us to help sign people in. The next hour and a half flew by in a torrent of women and numbers and glo sticks and health and safety letters.

Just before midnight the jumble of women stood in front of the BRMB stage and began to warm up. It was all bustle and excitement - maybe this was going to be some fun after all?

We all began to make our way to the starting line and I noticed one of the notes pinned to the back of another walker:

'In memory of my beautiful daughter.'

And then, a little before midnight it finally dawned on me. I was part of something so much bigger, and more important than me.

There were women on the walk who have lost, or who are caring for very sick children. People who face the reality on a daily basis that their baby may never get better. To have the strength to do that is amazing. I suddenly felt very humbled, and honoured to be taking part in the first of these walks.

Spirits were high as we set off, not least because the initial count revealed that around £120,000 had been raised.

And so, a line of women walked around the City, cars honked their horns in support as they passed us, rowdy crowds from pubs wishing us well. It was brilliant. The whole time we felt safe because there were marshals dotted along the route, and every now and again a police van would drive past to see that we were alright, stopping traffic on roads to let our procession cross when needed.

My legs felt tired, but that paled into insignificance against what we were doing this for.

We were amongst some of the last over the finishing line at around 2am and were cheered across by those who had got there before us. It was momentous and I was so glad I was part of if.

Money raised for Acorns is absolutely vital to allow them to continue offering nursing care and support to children who have life limiting and life threatening conditions, and their families living in the West Midlands.

To find out how you can support Acorns visit their website or call their events team on 0844 9840405